Bethpage, N.Y. – Cable TV giant
has introduced a PC
to TV Media Relay service that will allow Cablevision digital cable subscribers
to relay information, images and digital entertainment content from the PC to their
television screens in real time, without any additional equipment.
The service, which will essentially take the place of so-called media
bridge devices offered as separate set-top boxes or integrated into various
home networking components from CE manufacturers, is said to use only
Cablevision’s advanced fiber-rich network. The
application will enable transferring PC data collected from a hard drive or from
a PC connection to the Web, to the television for viewing on a dedicated
channel that is accessible only by that customer, Cablevision said.
The cable TV operator said it plans to begin a technical trial of the PC to
TV Media Relay by June 2010.
“With our PC to TV Media Relay service, we are putting an end to the need
for families to huddle around their laptops or PCs to watch content together,” Tom Rutledge, Cablevision’s chief operating officer, said in a statement. “This new
service will make it easy for our television customers to take broadband
services including Internet video, as well as family photos or anything else
displayed on a computer screen and move it to the television with the click of
the mouse.”
Specific examples of the kind of content that consumers currently view on
their PC, and will now be viewable on the television include:
* Personal stored media such as photos, home videos and music;
* Internet content, including streaming video sites and audio such as Internet
radio;
* Some productivity applications, including email, documents and spreadsheets;
* Other desktop applications including widgets.
Cablevision said its service will enable the customer to securely send information
on their PC in real time through Cablevision’s network facilities to a dedicated
channel viewable only by that customer.
“The service will completely eliminate the need to change input settings on
the TV, as is the case with most in-home networking alternatives, or to
purchase and install expensive additional equipment,” Cablevision
said in a statement announcing the service. “A simple
one-time software download to the computer will enable the PC to TV Media Relay
service.
Cablevision, which has been slow to adopt mandated infrastructure
to enable set-top TV receiving equipment with Tru2way digital CableCARD slots,
which would open up CE retailing of cable receiving devices from multiple
manufacturers, previously introduced a digital video recorder service that
remotely stores recorded content at the local cable system head end, as a
replacement for digital video recorders – like TiVo boxes.
